Department of Redundancy Department

[Tanegar]

OK, I've been playing Warlords for Homeworld 2 for a couple of days, and on a technical level, I'm very impressed. On a game-design level... not so much. One problem immediately leaps out at me: redundancy. The CIS have both a "Recusant destroyer" and a "Recusant patrol destroyer." They cost exactly the same, 36,000 RU. What's the difference? I don't know. I don't care, to be perfectly honest. Whatever role these two ships are supposed to fill, pick the one that fills it best and discard the other. Likewise with the Imperator I and Imperator II Star Destroyers, the Acclamator I and Acclamator II frigates, the Victory I and Victory II Star Destroyers, et tedious cetera. Memorizing lists of statistics for ships that just aren't that different is not fun. It's not just ships with the same names, either. The ANH-RoTJ Empire has eight or ten different kinds of fighters where three will suffice. What's the difference between a TIE Defender and a TIE Sentinel? Again, I neither know nor care, nor does it make any difference. The Empire needs three fighters - no more, no less. It needs the TIE fighter (quick, cheap scout), the TIE interceptor (anti-fighter and anti-corvette fighter), and the TIE bomber (anti-starship fighter). These are the iconic fighters that everyone immediately recognizes as "Imperial." Redundancy in unit design only serves to dilute the identity of each faction: focus on iconic units that are instantly recognizable, discard units from relatively obscure sources (yes, I know the TIE Fighter game still has fans; I happen to be one of them, but TIE Defenders and assault gunboats are simply superfluous in this mod).

 

My strong recommendation is to confine yourselves to ships that appear in the movies, to make each ship both flavorful and useful in its role, and to discard ships that add nothing of substance to the mod. Yes, Star Wars has a profusion of cool and cool-looking ships, and it is sorely tempting to cram as many of them in as possible, but more ships don't necessarily make a better game.

[Evaders99]

We know. This is the route that Eville Jedi has decided, to provide the fast multitude of ships for users to stage their own battles. It doesn't, as you say, make a great traditional game, but the focus has been on providing a unique SW experience. There isn't a typical "X counters Y counters Z" approach because that's not the way Eville wants it.

 

You want a polished game, you can either help out or pay for Eville to work full-time?

[Darth_Malice]

I think he just missed the point in the mod, i happen to really enjoy, just a shame we havent seen a update for it in some now

[Tanegar]

I can understand that goal, but then documentation becomes hugely important. What is the difference between a Recusant destroyer and a Recusant patrol destroyer? The Wookieepedia entry doesn't mention any variants on the design. Never assume that any given player knows anything at all about any given unit. A manual would be great, but in a pinch filling in all those empty construction tooltips will do.

[Evaders99]

A manual would be great, but in a pinch filling in all those empty construction tooltips will do.

That is on the TO-DO list

[Kacen]

My strong recommendation is to confine yourselves to ships that appear in the movies, to make each ship both flavorful and useful in its role, and to discard ships that add nothing of substance to the mod. Yes, Star Wars has a profusion of cool and cool-looking ships, and it is sorely tempting to cram as many of them in as possible, but more ships don't necessarily make a better game.

 

There isn't a thread in this forum that I cannot necromance so I don't care.

 

This is PRECISELY what I DON'T want...(well, that and more clone wars garbage).

 

Most of us are /avid book readers/ and most of the appeal of this mod is it allows us to use ships that we've read about...it's a classic Star Wars fans dream.

[Evaders99]

Everyone's going to have their own viewpoints. I don't think we can satisfy everyone... we're certainly not going to try.

 

Thanks for the feedback though